Anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia presenting as atrophic rhinitis

Ectodermal dysplasia is a complex group of familial disorders with numerous clinical characteristics, with an incidence of 7 in 10000 born alive children. Ectodermal dysplasia affects structures of ectodermal origin like the skin and its appendages as well as other non-ectodermal structures. The most common sites of involvement are the defects in the skin, hair, teeth, nails and sweat glands,which are of ectodermal origin. Though the dermatologists and paediatricians often manage such cases, we report one case of ectodermal dysplasia presenting with atrophic rhinitis.

Influence of carbon dioxide on the activity of chicken egg white lysozyme

Rapid cooling of shell eggs by using liquid CO(2) has shown increased bactericidal effects along with saturation of the egg albumen with CO(2). Lysozyme is a bactericidal enzyme present in chicken eggs, and it lyses gram-positive bacteria. Newly laid chicken eggs have an initial pH of 7.6 to 8.5 and are saturated with CO(2). During storage, the pH gradually increases to 9.7, accompanied by a loss of CO(2). It is hypothesized that the lysozyme activity is influenced by either CO(2) concentration or pH changes resulting from CO(2) loss. The objective of this study was to determine the lytic activity of purified lysozyme and chicken egg white (unpurified lysozyme) under varying conditions of temperature, pH, and CO(2) gas concentration. Lytic activity was determined by a standard microbial assay using lyophilized Micrococcus lysodeikticus. A 2 × 4 × 2 × 2 × 3 factorial design consisting of 2 temperatures (5 and 22°C), 4 pH (4.5, 6.5, 8.0, and 9.5), 2 treatments (with and without CO(2)), 2 types of lysozyme (purified and unpurified egg white), and 3 replicates was used. The highest lytic activity was found at pH 6.5 and 22°C. At pH 4.5 and 8.0, the addition of CO(2) increased lytic activity by more than 50% at both temperatures. At pH 6.5, lytic activity was maintained with CO(2) addition at both temperatures. At pH 9.5, lytic activity without CO(2) addition was high; however, adding CO(2) reduced lytic activity to zero. In conclusion, both pH and CO(2) treatment influence lysozyme activity.

Heterosis, inbreeding depression and their relationship with genetic divergence in sesame ( Sesamum indicum L.)

Seven parents (CST2002, MT34, OS-Sel-2, TKG22, AAUDT9304-14-4, B67 and Rama), their 21 F 1 s and 21 F 2 s were grown in summer 2003 in a randomized block design with three replications. Heterosis and inbreeding depression were studied for seven important yield-contributing characters (plant height, branch number plant −1 , capsules plant −1 , seeds capsule −1 , 1000-seed weight, stick yield plant −1 and seed yield plant −1 ). Maximum heterosis for seed yield plant −1 over the mid- and better-parent was recorded in CST2002×TKG22 (43.30%) and MT34×B67 (27.22%), respectively. Mid-parent heterosis for seed yield plant −1 was due to cumulative heterosis for various important component traits, such as capsules plant −1 , seeds capsule −1 and 1000-seed weight. Inbreeding depression was highest for seed yield, followed by 1000-seed weight, capsules plant −1 , branch number and plant height, indicating the predominance of non-additive genetic effects. B67×Rama exhibited significant positive heterosis in F 1 , but non-significant inbreeding depression in F 2 for seed yield. This cross can be utilized as basic material for identifying better pure lines. The clustering pattern indicated that in general genetically diverse parents exhibited more heterosis, as evident in the majority of the crosses.

Low voltage operation of plasma focus

Plasma foci of compact sizes and operating with low energies (from tens of joules to few hundred joules) have found application in recent years and have attracted plasma-physics scientists and engineers for research in this direction. We are presenting a low energy and miniature plasma focus which operates from a capacitor bank of 8.4 muF capacity, charged at 4.2-4.3 kV and delivering approximately 52 kA peak current at approximately 60 nH calculated circuit inductance. The total circuit inductance includes the plasma focus inductance. The reported plasma focus operates at the lowest voltage among all reported plasma foci so far. Moreover the cost of capacitor bank used for plasma focus is nearly 20 U.S. dollars making it very cheap. At low voltage operation of plasma focus, the initial breakdown mechanism becomes important for operation of plasma focus. The quartz glass tube is used as insulator and breakdown initiation is done on its surface. The total energy of the plasma focus is approximately 75 J. The plasma focus system is made compact and the switching of capacitor bank energy is done by manual operating switch. The focus is operated with hydrogen and deuterium filled at 1-2 mbar.

Do heart failure patients understand their diagnosis or want to know their prognosis? Heart failure from a patient's perspective

The management of heart failure has evolved to become a multidisciplinary affair. Constraints of time and resources limit the amount of counselling that is given to heart failure patients in hospital and, with the advent of community heart failure specialist nurses, there is a trend to move more of these services into the community. Most heart failure patients are elderly and may find the information given to them, at the time of diagnosis and later on at home by heart failure nurses, difficult to grasp. In this study, patients' perspectives of a diagnosis of heart failure, their understanding of the diagnosis as well as what being diagnosed with heart failure means to them were recorded. Patients were questioned on whether the news of the heart failure diagnosis was broken to them in a sympathetic manner and how they felt about the information provided at diagnosis.

Biofabrication methods for the patterned assembly and synthesis of viral nanotemplates

This paper reports on novel methodologies for the patterning and templated synthesis of virus-structured nanomaterials in two- and three-dimensional microfabricated architectures using the Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). The TMV is a high aspect ratio biological molecule which can be engineered to include amino acids with enhanced binding properties. These modifications facilitate self-assembly of the TMV onto various substrates and enable its use as a template for the synthesis of nanostructured materials. This work focuses on the combination of this bottom-up biologically inspired fabrication method with standard top-down micromachining processes that allow direct integration of the virus-structured materials into batch-fabricated devices. Photolithographic patterning of uncoated as well as nickel-coated TMV nanostructures has been achieved using a lift-off process in both solvent and mild basic solutions and their assembly onto three-dimensional polymer and silicon microstructures is demonstrated. In addition to these patterning techniques, in situ formation of metal oxide TMV coatings in patterned microfabricated environments is shown using atomic layer deposition directly on the nickel-coated viruses. The biofabrication 'process toolbox' presented in this work offers a simple and versatile alternative for the hierarchical patterning and incorporation of biotemplated nanomaterials into micro/nanofabrication schemes.

Observation of single top-quark production

We report observation of the electroweak production of single top quarks in pp[over ] collisions at sqrt[s]=1.96 TeV based on 2.3 fb(-1) of data collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Using events containing an isolated electron or muon and missing transverse energy, together with jets originating from the fragmentation of b quarks, we measure a cross section of sigma(pp[over ]--> tb + X, tqb + X) = 3.94 + or - 0.88 pb. The probability to measure a cross section at this value or higher in the absence of signal is 2.5 x 10(-7), corresponding to a 5.0 standard deviation significance for the observation.

Search for resonant diphoton production with the D0 detector

We present a search for a narrow resonance in the inclusive diphoton final state using approximately 2.7 fb(-1) of data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron pp Collider. We observe good agreement between the data and the background prediction, and set the first 95% C.L. upper limits on the production cross section times the branching ratio for decay into a pair of photons for resonance masses between 100 and 150 GeV. This search is also interpreted in the context of several models of electroweak symmetry breaking with a Higgs boson decaying into two photons.

Measurement of the Zgamma --> nunu[over ]gamma production cross section and limits on anomalous ZZgamma and Zgammagamma couplings in pp[over] collisions at sqrt[s] = 1.96 TeV

We present the first observation of the Zgamma --> nunu[over ]gamma process at the Fermilab Tevatron at 5.1 standard deviations significance, based on 3.6 fb;{-1} of integrated luminosity collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron pp[over ] Collider at sqrt[s] = 1.96 TeV. The measured Zgamma production cross section multiplied by the branching fraction of Z --> nunu[over] is 32 +/- 9(stat + syst) +/-2 (lumi) fb for the photon E_{T} > 90 GeV. It is in agreement with the standard model prediction of 39 +/- 4 fb. We set limits on anomalous trilinear Zgammagamma and ZZgamma gauge boson couplings, most of which are the most restrictive to date.

Search for charged higgs bosons decaying into top and bottom quarks in pp[over ] collisions

We describe a search for production of a charged Higgs boson, qq[over ];{'}-->H;{+}, reconstructed in the tb[over ] final state in the mass range 180< or =M_{H;{+}}< or =300 GeV. The search was undertaken at the Fermilab Tevatron collider with a center-of-mass energy sqrt[s]=1.96 TeV and uses 0.9 fb;{-1} of data collected with the D0 detector. We find no evidence for charged Higgs boson production and set upper limits on the production cross section in the types I, II, and III two-Higgs-doublet models (2HDMs). An excluded region in the (M_{H;{+}}, tanbeta) plane for type I 2HDM is presented.

Measurement of gamma+b+X and gamma+c+X Production Cross Sections in pp[over ] Collisions at sqrt[s]=1.96 TeV

First measurements of the differential cross sections d;{3}sigma/(dp_{T};{gamma}dy;{gamma}dy;{jet}) for the inclusive production of a photon in association with a heavy quark (b, c) jet are presented, covering photon transverse momenta 30<p_{T};{gamma}<150 GeV, photon rapidities |y;{gamma}|<1.0, jet rapidities |y;{jet}|<0.8, and jet transverse momenta p_{T};{jet}>15 GeV. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 1 fb;{-1} in pp[over ] collisions at sqrt[s]=1.96 TeV recorded with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The results are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD predictions.

Search for long-lived charged massive particles with the D0 detector

We search for long-lived charged massive particles using 1.1 fb;{-1} of data collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron pp[over ] Collider. Time-of-flight information is used to search for pair produced long-lived tau sleptons, gauginolike charginos, and Higgsino-like charginos. We find no evidence of a signal and set 95% C.L. cross section upper limits for staus, which vary from 0.31 to 0.04 pb for stau masses between 60 and 300 GeV. We also set lower mass limits of 206 GeV (171 GeV) for pair produced charged gauginos (Higgsinos).

Evidence of WW and WZ production with lepton + jets final states in pp collisions at square root s=1.96 TeV

We present first evidence for WW+WZ production in lepton + jets final states at a hadron collider. The data correspond to 1.07 fb-1 of integrated luminosity collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron in pp collisions at square root s=1.96 TeV. The observed cross section for WW+WZ production is 20.2+/-4.5 pb, consistent with the standard model and more precise than previous measurements in fully leptonic final states. The probability that background fluctuations alone produce this excess is <5.4 x 10-6, which corresponds to a significance of 4.4 standard deviations.

Growth and nutritional status of Bengali adolescent girls

OBJECTIVE

Assessment of the growth and nutritional status among healthy Bengali adolescent schoolgirls at peri-urban area.

METHODS

In this cross sectional study, sample consists of 527 school going adolescent girls, aged 10 to 18 years. The sample of the present study was collected from a peri-urban area (Duttapukur) of north 24 parganas district of West Bengal, India. Standard anthropometric measurements including linear, curvilinear and skinfold thickness were collected from each subject. Percentile curves and nutritional indices were used to determine the growth and nutritional status respectively.

RESULTS

The nature of distance curves and percentile curves of the body measurements showed a high rate of increase in 10-11 years of age group corresponding to an earlier adolescent growth spurt than average Indian girls. The adolescent girls in the current study were found to be significantly (p<0.0001) taller than Indian girls and heavier than both Indian and urban Bengali girls but slightly shorter than urban Bengali girls. They are significantly (p<0.0001) shorter and lighter than American girls, which also corresponded to 50(th) percentile curves. Age specific nutritional assessment shows different grades of malnutrition among them. Gomez's classification indicates about 60 % to 70 % adolescent girls show either moderate to mild malnutrition during their growth period. Both the indices of Waterlow's classification show least percentage of least malnutrition among the girls.

CONCLUSION

The growth pattern and nutritional status observed among adolescent girls in peri-urban situation show heterogeneity with respect to some anthropometric traits and in conformity with the growth pattern and nutritional status of urban girls.

Search for anomalous top-quark couplings with the D0 detector

Anomalous Wtb couplings modify the angular correlations of the top-quark decay products and change the single top-quark production cross section. We present limits on anomalous top-quark couplings by combining information from W boson helicity measurements in top-quark decays and anomalous coupling searches in the single top-quark final state. We set limits on right-handed vector couplings as well as left-handed and right-handed tensor couplings based on about 1 fb(-1) of data collected by the D0 experiment.

Measurement of the lifetime of the Bc+/- meson in the semileptonic decay channel

Using approximately 1.3 fb(-1) of data collected by the D0 detector between 2002 and 2006, we measure the lifetime of the Bc+/- meson in the Bc-/+-->J/psimicro+/-+X final state. A simultaneous unbinned likelihood fit to the J/psi+micro invariant mass and lifetime distributions yields a signal of 881+/-80(stat) candidates and a lifetime measurement of tau(Bc+/-)=0.448(-0.036)(+0.038)(stat)+/-0.032(syst) ps.

Evidence for the decay Bs0-->Ds(*)Ds(*) and a measurement of DeltaGammasCP/Gammas

We search for the semi-inclusive process Bs0-->Ds(*)Ds(*) using 2.8 fb(-1) of pp collisions at sqrt[s]=1.96 TeV recorded by the D0 detector operating at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We observe 26.6+/-8.4 signal events with a significance above background of 3.2 standard deviations yielding a branching ratio of B(Bs0-->Ds(*)Ds(*))=0.035+/-0.010(stat.)+/-0.011(syst.). Under certain theoretical assumptions, these double-charm final states saturate CP-even eigenstates in the Bs0 decays resulting in a width difference of DeltaGammasCP/Gammas=0.072+/-0.021(stat.)+/-0.022(syst.).